00/24 WatchWorld

Kristian Haagen: "Two years ago I bought this rare grey dial Heuer Monaco. Very thin on the ground and from the years that King of Cool actually could have worn it, instead of the blue dial version. Here seen with a pair of TAG heuer driving gloves."

The impressive TAG Heuer collection, formerly owned by British collectors, Arno Haslinger and Dr George Fisher went under the hammer at London auction house Bonhams yesterday. One of the most impressive results was the black Heuer Monaco ref. 740303 N from 1974. It reached UKP 48.000 including buyer´s premium. That is probably the highest price ever paid for a 1970s Heuer Monaco, not accounting for the Monaco once owned by Steve McQueen.

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio paid a rather quick visit to the Paris LVMH HQs when 150 year old Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer held a small event. This was to celebrate the return of the Tesla Roadster that went around the world. TAG Heuer CEO, Jean-Christophe Babin hugged his talented ambassador and handed over a TAG Heuer Monaco TwentyFour. Quite a cool watch that I tried on at Basel World this spring. Sits surprisingly well on the wrist too.

Steve McQueen made the blue dial ref. 1133 TAG Heuer Monaco rather famous, when he wore it during the shooting of the 1971 classic, Le Mans. Mr. Cool, the GULF-striped driving suit, a Porsche 917 and that blue dial Monaco is all it takes for members of both sexes to go aaaaahhh.

Who's the coolest cat: Steve McQueen or ratpack Sammy Davis Jr? Well, high bidders of recent auctions seem to have a bid on that. Sammy Davis Jr's Heuer Monaco ref. 1133b from 1969 recently went under the hammer with an estimate of 4-6.000 USD. Low estimate alright. More Davis' Monaco oozes provenance and surely the result went higher than estimate: 21.600 USD including buyers premium.